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College Park, Maryland      June 6 - 10 , 2004

T3-B3 (4:30 PM): Applying Neutron Scattering to Polymer Coating Research

L. Sung (Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899), D. L. Ho (NIST Center for Neutron Research), X. Gu, S. Scierka (Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899), J. Barker (NIST Center for Neutron Research)

Nanostructure and heterogeneity of coating materials are the key parameters to affect the physical and mechanical properties of coatings and their service life. It is curial to understand the relationship between the nanostructure, heterogeneity and the durability of coating materials for surface life prediction. Complementary to the conventional microscopic characterization tools often used in coating industry, small angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique provides bulk spatial information in a large sample area without extensive manual labor, and is proven to be useful for assessing the state of structure and dispersion of polymer coating materials. This outcome may help to bring a new solution to a long-standing pigment dispersion measurement problem in the coating industry. In this presentation, SANS studies on (1) the effect of pigment concentration on spatial distribution (dispersion) of pigmentary or nanoparticles in acrylic coatings and (2) the effect of nanostructure on UV degradation of fluoropolymer based coatings will be reported and compared to microscopy results.

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